I caught up with Danielle Read from Readcity Writing who is my go-to gal for all things copywriting for myself and my clients.
Not only is Danielle so creative, funny and super talented, she also works with the cutest work colleague, Larry the cat!
Copywriting is the juicy stuff that actually turns your ideal customer’s head, makes them sit up and start grooving.
I first met Danielle on good ‘ol Instagram when I was looking for someone to help me with my website copy. And when she sent me her client questionnaire in a Word document, I just knew she needed some help in the design department! Sorry Danielle but you needed my creativity and design, and I needed your word wizardry magic! Hello collaboration!
And when I say that we met – we haven’t actually met in real life yet! We are hoping this magic might happen next year! Watch this space!
Anyway, I’m just so glad I met this girl because we have been working together on all sorts of client and personal projects. Read on as I chat with Danielle about how she started her copywriting business and why copywriting is one of the most important things you should consider in your business that will have your ideal customer sitting up and taking notice.
It can be so hard finding the right words to express what you do in your biz, especially when you are so close to it. And that’s where Danielle comes in.
What was your ah-ha moment that made you get into copywriting?
Where to start?! Well, my grown-up method for choosing a university degree involved sitting around the dining table with my mum and flicking open a UAC book. No, like literally just randomly flicking it open and putting my finger on any topic on the page in front of me. Flick, flick, fli- A Bachelor of Psychological Science. Mum and I nodded to each other with a ‘that sounds fancy’ acknowledgment, I packed my bags and moved from my humble hometown of Lismore, NSW to the shimmering Gold Coast. To cut a long story short, I finished my degree (met the love of my life in class – we still laugh that it was a very expensive love story) and began working as an Acquired Brain Injury Specialist.
Here comes the detour. A common theme throughout my life was always a love for writing. You know that heart pounding, soul igniting THING where you lose track of time and all of a sudden a warm hazy sky turns just-past-midnight but you swear it’s only been five minutes? That’s always been writing for me. All through school I took extra English classes (yep, the ones where you had to be in class at 7am and others where there were no classes at all – shock!) and when given the chance at uni, I chose free choice electives like writing for the internet, academic writing and creative writing. Looking back, they sure were warning signs that my truest fulfilment in this life would be best achieved through a career in writing. I kept blogs and wrote for local music magazines, before one day, I was all-of-a-sudden 25 and decided I wanted to actually take this passion seriously! But how? The internet – that’s it! Oh, I thought I was quite clever when I decided businesses needed a hand with their copy. I’d always felt compelled to help others (a real life care bear, you could say) but the thought of pursuing writing copy to sell did seem awful daunting. But to connect, aaaah, that sounded pretty nifty to me. In fact, I thought I was the first person to ever think of it – ha!
So what does any responsible gal who likes words do? Quit her job and splash head first into studying business management, digital marketing and strategies with people like Peter Baldwin, a big wig in Myer’s marketing department. Then it was all shimmy, shimmy, shimmy from there.
Why should we care about copywriting?
Copywriting is the juicy stuff that actually turns your ideal customer’s head, makes them sit up and start grooving. Some business owners think copywriting is only required for sales pages (or to approve the tiny c in the circle, which is a whole other area). But the truth is, copywriting extends to any written copy for your business – digital and print. Heck, we even write video scripts and come up with jingles!
Copywriting is also a powerful multi-dimensional marketing tool and best friends with search engines. Not only does copywriting allow your business to increase exposure rates and land sales, but it also creates long and meaningful relationships with your target audience by adding value to their lives through materials like blog posts, reports and lead magnets.
We also help you to say the words you want when you’re not quite sure how to say them. In other words, we help you to create a branded business style through all of your business’s copy. This includes creating meaningful first impressions with potential customers or clients who are just getting to know your business (think: social media and website copy), have shown interest in working with or buying from you (ad copy, blog posts and lead magnets) right through to landing sales and nurturing your audience (promotional materials, email marketing and follow up strategies).
Copywriting works when you don’t. So, once you’ve popped value-packed, strategised and down right tasty copy onto the interwebs, magic happens. When teamed with a thorough digital marketing strategy, copywriting becomes an invaluable tool that actually markets for your business while you sleep. We explore your audience’s needs, pain points and areas of interest to better educate them about topics in your field and position you as an expert in your industry. Think about it, if you ask someone a question and they know the correct answer, did you suddenly respect them more in that field? Now imagine that across a wide range of topics, written in your business’s enticing tone of voice and shared with the world. Pretty powerful, right? And that’s just the beginning…
Knowing your target market (aka who you’re talking to) for your business is vital to being able to engage and connect with them. What are some tips you can offer people here?
Oh Karen, you couldn’t be more corectomondo! Knowing your target market and more specifically, your target audience is absolutely crucial before creating any copy for a business! Who these sparkly people are will affect the way you communicate with them, the platforms you focus on to promote your products or services, how you respond to queries and SO much more!
A big tip I would give around discovering who your target audience is, would be research, research research! Everything from where they hang out on weekends to which brands they trust and gravitate towards. It’s so important to truly explore their pain points and how you’re able to solve them. And a big tip for creating business copy would be to pretend you’re sitting across the table from your ideal customer or client, looking them in the eyes and actually talking straight to them. Not to an auditorium full of people, not to a whole room, but just to one single person. Just see how much more powerful your message comes across.
Another pointer? Follow in the footsteps of brands your target audience resonates with. What type of content are they engaging with? What spikes their interest? What makes them want to get involved? Then put your own little jig on it and offer them something entirely new, but with a strong foundation that has proven itself across other industries that have succeeded in reaching them.
So, where does social media fit into all of this?
Social media is primarily at the awareness stage of your sales funnel. So making sure that your brand’s personality shines through is paramount! Let’s say, you land on a really great Instagram profile, fall in love and follow the candy trail to their website… Then all of a sudden – gasp! It’s completely different! You can imagine just how confusing that would be for you – imagine this from a potential customer or client’s point of view. They’re gonna be all ‘what the heck!?’ this, and ‘did i just enter a portal?!’ that. You’ll want to ensure your social media offers your audience value and a personality that is consistent with your overall brand. Use this platform to create connections with your ideal customer or client and show off that magical personality.
In order to stand about amongst the noise of social media, establishing your brand’s voice is so important. What process do you have to get to know your client’s brand and voice?
Tone of voice is a big one here at Readcity HQ! Without giving away too much of our secret BTS stuff, we take our clients through a series of tasks designed to personify their business. We explore different aspects of the business and develop clear guidelines to put in place across all written channels. This allows all team members within the business to communicate with their audience in the same style. Continuity is uber important and creating a clear branded voice allows the audience to connect with the business in a predictable and creative way.
What are the benefits of developing your personal brand?
Personal branding ultimately allows your audience to feel a stronger connection with your business! Humans connect with humans and by establishing yourself as a real, live, non-robot one, this only creates an even closer bond between your audience and your biz (cute). The key with creating a personal brand as well as a business personality is ensuring that your youness (which we love), doesn’t become your business’s entire persona, if it doesn’t make sense. Your business’s personality and you can be very different. And that is okay. In fact, introducing yourself in elements of your social media, website and business copy can be a really powerful way to show the difference. We hear a lot of business owners say that their business is way cooler than them. That’s what we love sassy business people feeling!
If businesses were only to implement one digital marketing activity, what would you suggest?
Oh, that is a tricky one! Each individual activity is kind of like a musical instrument and together they make up the band you want to rock out with. But if I were to choose just one, I would definitely say BLOGGING! By offering your audience valuable articles to discover and begin growing a connection with your brand is absolutely invaluable!
Now for a bit of fun…
What would we find in your camera roll?
Lots of cat pics and an astounding amount of ‘before’ photos.
What’s your ideal weekend?
A big (unheard) of sleep in, some type of road trip to cheese and sunset mimosas.
Netflix binge sesh?
Orange is the New Black, Easy and something embarrassingly trashy
Business running pet peeve?
Never remembering my printer ink details and trying to hide the amp in my office during conference calls.
Business love?
Larry breaks, meeting new wonderful business owners, getting in the zone and writing until well past knock off bevy o-clock.
About Danielle Read, Readcity Writing
Readcity Founder, Danielle Read uses her wordy powers for pure good. A self-confessed wordaholic, sentence sipper and grammar jazzer, Danielle comes pre-packaged with qualifications in Psychology, Business, Digital Marketing, Academic and Creative Writing. As a lifelong lover of words, Danielle’s literary passion has extended to envelop the digital marketing strategies of businesses across the globe.
If you need help with Instagram, Danielle has created an Instagram Powerhouse online course to help biz owners like you discover and master innovative Instagram strategies for your business in a fraction of the time. You can check it out here.
Website: readcitywriting.com
Facebook: @readcity
Instagram: @readcity
